Casino Royale DVD Question
 

Who owns the DVD rights to Casino Royale?

Is it Sony, who will do a single disc with nothing and an overpriced two-disc "Special Edition?"

Or is it Fox, who now distributes MGM's stuff, who'll do the same thing as Sony, except have more extras, a DTS, and keep the trailers?

Don't know the answer, but it's a damn fine question!

With a running time of almost 2 and a half hours it's a safe bet any single disc version will probably be movie only, especially if it has DTS. The 2 disc version will have movie on one disc and extras on second. I think this will probably be a 2 disc only title, no single disc version and distributed by whoever is doing the Bond ultimate editions. Don't remember the specifics of the deal that switched MGM/UA distribution to Fox except that Sony still gets to distribute the next Bond film, theatrically at least.

According to IMDB, Fox has the DVD rights - I still think Sony has it.

I was under the impression that Sony retained all distribution rights to Casino Royale and the next Bond picture, but the rest of the series went to Fox. I could be wrong.

It will be amusing to watch a Fox DVD of a movie with such blatant Sony product placement in every single scene.

According to a friend on the inside, Sony does.

If your second post is true, Christian, I hope to God not. Sony's been pissing me off lately by not including the film's trailers on their discs.

Is this Sony's usual strategy? I know Warners and Disney does, but Sony put a good 2-disc set of the Da Vinci Code recently (there was no single disc edition, though an extended edition will probably be making the rounds in the future). Memoirs of a Geisha was also a 2-disc set right off the bat (no single disc version).

When did Sony ever include the trailer for the movie on the disc? If you buy enough Sony dvds you will get the trailers you want. I try to keep track of them. Casino Royale teaser is on Silent Hill and DaVinci Code. At least they are out there on something. Other studios are worse, especially Universal.

i hope fox owns the rights do to the fact that sony has been making piss poor dvds espacially with there tv on dvd sets, damn they always have to cram everything on 3 discs or 1 disc for movies.

Wait if Sony has the rights to Casino Royale and future Bond films and Fox has the rights to the previous films, then does that mean we'll never get a complete collection of all the official Bond movies?

I believe (and someone more knowledgeable can correct me if I'm wrong), that Sony only controls the distribution rights to this one and the next one. The previous Bond films will be distributed by Fox, as will presumably anything after these two. However, the actual ownership of all the Bond films resides with MGM, and it will be in MGM's best interest to make an effort to broker a deal between the two studios that will allow the Sony titles to be bundled with a Fox box set. Something similar has happened in the past, when Sony allowed their Dr. Strangelove DVD to be packaged with the Stanley Kubrick Collection box set from Warner Bros.

Basically, I wouldn't worry about it. With titles like these, you're guaranteed to see all manner of re-releases, repackagings, and gift set variations for years to come.

I don't think we'll ever see a complete box set in R1.

MGM/Fox seems to like to release them in mixed-up 5-7 film boxes.

I think it would be sweet if Sony included a mailaway form in "Casino Royale" so you could get a double-thinpack for "Casino Royale" to match the previous ones and a box to hold all 21 films.

Yes, but then they couldn't release another batch of box sets when Bond 22 comes out...

In all fairness, the last wave of Bond editions lasted for both "TWINE" and "DAD", the box set configurations were messed with but they didn't actually make new DVD editions.

Also, this potential Fox/Sony split between "DAD" and "CR" should limit future box set release options anyway.

In a perfect world the UE's would be it for the standard DVD format, Sony would include my idea for the "mail away for double slim case for Casino Royale and 21-film box set" and continue to offer such box sets as the films are released.

I for one am not one of these people who thinks DVD won't be around much longer. I see it being the dominant home video format for a long, long time and I could easily see the next 5 or 6 Bond films being released in the format.

I gotta agree with you.

I myself think it's a warning sign when the standard DVD of Basic Instinct 2 gets a better video review than the Blu-Ray DVD.

Anyone know if they will release the four ultimate collections in a special box? They did that with the Lord of the Rings extended editions. They released them individually first, then released the special box set.